Beating lobby spokesman Larry Baldock appears to be losing the plot now that it’s dawned on him that his gaming of the smacking referendum question has left him with no mandate for a law change.
In a press release titled “Democracy in danger?” Baldock rants that because the Government changed the law after the MMP referendum but hasn’t now our democracy is somehow under threat. Check this out for batshit crazy:
“As a nation we changed our voting system with less of a mandate than was given to our politicians last Friday.
“Instead of sending troops to Afghanistan to fight for democracy, maybe we should send them to Wellington!
“Instead of Fiji being suspended from the Pacific Forum,for ignoring the Democratic will of the people, perhaps New Zealand should be suspended…..?”
What this clown fails to realise is that it’s his own lobby’s fault the referendum’s not being taken seriously. The deliberately misleading and confusing phrasing of the referendum question tells us nothing about whether New Zealanders want to repeal the law. As a result he has no mandate for change.
The MMP referendum was different entirely. For a start it was binding, but more importantly it asked a clear and direct question about whether New Zealanders wanted to change the electoral system.
If Larry’s really looking for threats to New Zealand’s democracy I’d say the million dollars given to the ‘No Vote’ campaign by US-based Christian fundamentalists would be a far better place to start.
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